The obesity treatment process
Pre operation
Once you have made your decision to have weight loss surgery, you will be asked to visit a consultant at the hospital a few weeks before your surgery is scheduled. The consultant will talk you through the surgery as well as our carefully adapted pre and post-operative care programme and perform a thorough, general medical evaluation.
Pre-operation you will also be required to visit our dietician who will carry out an accurate pre-operative assessment of your knowledge about nutrition, personal habits, and commitment to change for a successful, long-term outcome.
Following the results of your evaluations, your dietician, together with your surgeon, will advise you to follow a very strict and restricted diet two weeks prior to surgery - one that is low in fat, sugar and carbohydrates. This diet will help reduce the risks associated with weight loss surgery (see individual treatments for details of the risks).
Weight loss surgery procedures
The gastric banding procedure takes one to two hours while the bypass requires two to four hours, both are performed laparoscopically (via keyhole surgery). Implantable Gastric Stimulation (IGS) using the Transcend™ system, is an exciting and revolutionary new development in the treatment of severe obesity
Post operation
If you have the gastric banding procedure, you will be allowed drinks on the same day of the operation. If you have the gastric bypass operation then your new stomach will be x-rayed one to two days after the operation, and provided that there are no problems you will be able to resume a light fluid diet.
Following surgery your dietician will visit you on the ward to help plan your six week programme and provide you with a detailed dietary information pack. The programme will be in stages.
The stages our specialists suggest are:
- Stage 1: Liquids for two weeks
- Stage 2: Pureed diet for four weeks
- Stage 3: Progress on to solid healthy eating regime
It is important that you do not rush through each stage. You need to give your body time to adapt.
After your operation it is important that you adhere to the guidelines in the information pack provided by your dietician. These guidelines try to make your recovery as smooth as possible and help you to get the maximum benefit from surgery.
Follow-up via telephone and clinic consultations for the first year following surgery are provided as well as access to counsellors who will be able to help you through this change in your life.